Ministry of Culture
India’s first global, Mega Science Exhibition ‘Vigyan Samagam’ begins today in Mumbai
Vigyan Samagam to reach Bengaluru, Kolkata and New Delhi after Mumbai in its 11-month journey
Exhibition to bring global Mega Science projects closer to people
Mega Science Projects by CERN, TMT, INO, LIGO, SKA, ITER and FAIR will be the key attractions for science enthusiasts
Bringing the world’s major Mega Science projects together, India’s first-ever, global mega - Science Exhibition, ‘Vigyan Samagam’, was inaugurated at Nehru Science Centre, Worli, Mumbai today. Dr. Vijay Kumar Saraswat, India’s renowned defence scientist and Member, NITI Aayog inaugurated the first edition of Vigyan Samagam.
This multi-venue Science Exhibition, is planned in the four cities of Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata and New Delhi. The exhibition will be of 11-month duration, commencing its journey from Mumbai today. The Department of Atomic Energy  and Department of Science and Technology  are funding the Exhibition while the National Council of Science Museums  and Ministry of Culture are the venue partners.
Delivering the inaugural address, Member, NITI Aayog, Dr. V. K. Saraswat said: “This initiative will go a long way in attracting to science the best brains who have been migrating to fields like Information Technology. Former Indian Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru had said that it is only science and technology which can remove hunger and poverty from this country. From then onwards, India has made great strides in basic research.
Science is being used not only to create energy but also for cancer research. Apart from atomic energy, India has made great contribution in the field of space, as evident in missions like Mangalyaan and Chandrayaan.”
He further said, “At the same time, India still faces serious problems like high infant mortality rate and poverty. In this context, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi said that Indian science has to come out of four walls of laboratories and solve problems of society. Commercialisation of research has to happen for economic development. Better understanding of the universe and the planet will help in solving problems that we have created by adverse use of science and technology, without regard for the environment.”
In his keynote address on “2050 Spaceship Earth”, Prof. K. Vijay Raghavan, Principal Scientific Advisor to Government of India said that there is a need for scientific research to focus on bridging the divide between India and Bharat. Stating that this divide is neither tenable nor morally right, he said that India’s women will be our secret weapon in taking this forward. He said that many more women are expected to rise to leadership positions in scientific organizations in the coming years. He spoke of the need for democratization of opportunities so that especially the youth and disadvantaged sections of society are able to benefit. He said that making available the best thoughts on every subject in one’s native language has a very big role to play in this democratization, and that this is one problem which science has to work on. Speaking about areas which we currently either do or do not understand and are or are not aware of, he provided a guidepost to future research areas for the scientific community, so that we are better equipped to face the challenges of the future.
Secretary, Department of Atomic Energy and Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission, Shri K. N. Vyas said: “This is the world’s first ever global Mega Science exhibition. India’s participation in these Mega science projects is due to the engineering strengths acquired over the years. Our participation in these projects brings our knowledge base in harmony with respect to that of international institutions. This exhibition aims to highlight the value and impact of fundamental research to a broad cross-section of audience.”
Secretary, Department of Science & Technology, Shri Ashutosh Sharma said: “This is a historic moment for the universe as we have gathered here to explore the past 10 billion years of the universe; at the same time, we need to recognize the contribution of India to these mega science projects during the last 10 years or so. Projects like CERN which are engineering marvels of tremendous complexity and big scale have seen a great deal of Indian contribution in theory, design and supply of different components.
Communication is very important if all the great things that are happening in these mega science projects are to reach colleges, universities and R&D labs. This is where exhibitions like these prove important. Through its initiative ‘Avasar’, DST tries to communicate with masses by getting the PhD students and post-doctoral students to write a popular science story based on their area of research. This exercise of turning science researchers into journalists has proved to be successful.”
Director for Accelerators and Technology, CERN, Mr. Frederick Bordry said: “India and CERN have a long history of collaboration going back to 1960. India became an observer at CERN in 2012 and an associate member in 2017.” He also emphasized the importance of research, quoting the words of Mahatma Gandhi, “Our future depends upon what we are doing in the present”.
Ambassador of Switzerland to India, Mr. Andreas Baum said: “The central location of Switzerland in Europe and Swiss neutrality led to the choice of Switzerland as the venue for CERN and now 14,000 scientists of 100 nationalities work there. For the first time, the Accelerating Science Exhibition is travelling outside Europe and to multiple locations in one country; it shows the importance of India. Last year, both countries celebrated 70 years of Swiss-Indian friendship.”
Head of Nuclear Controls and Planning Wing of Department of Atomic Energy and Chairman, Apex Committee, Vigyan Samagam, Shri Ranajit Kumar, said: “This is not merely an exhibition but an assimilation of seminars, popular science talks and interactive quizzes. It showcases seven mega science projects in which India is participating. CERN , FAIR , INO , ITER , LIGO , SKA , TMT  projects are at the frontiers of science and technology. This exhibition is an effort to take these mega science programmes a step closer to society. It will underline the value and impact of fundamental research to a wide cross-section of society.”
Secretary, Atomic Energy Commission and Head, ICPD, NCPW, DAE, Shri Arun Srivastav said: “This exhibition shows India’s collaboration in some of the international science projects, and each session of the two-day seminar will be dedicated for each of these projects. It will cater to students, academia and focus will be on the industry. The Exhibition will induce students to look at science as a career option. Each module will comprise an overview, industrial challenges and ways to overcome them, followed by a panel discussion involving members of the industry.”
Director General, National Council of Science Museums, Shri A.D. Choudhary said: “Science centres and museums are an important link between science and society. Through its 25 science centres., NCSM continues to play a key role in nurturing the curiosity about science amongst different types of audience. An Exhibition titled “Superbugs: is it the end of the antibiotics” will be organized in Delhi in September, in collaboration with the Science Museum of London.”
The three organisers – DAE, DST and NCSM - have planned this Mega Science Exhibition of a global stature in a unique way and with a distinct objective. The Exhibition will bring several global, collaborative Mega Science projects under one roof for the first time in the world and is expected to ignite the minds of students, academia and industry to look for opportunities. These projects will help our scientists to work and contribute to international collaborations on fundamental science and research. The exhibition will also aim to connect with school children, students and aspirants who want to pursue fundamental science and research as a strong career option.
After Mumbai, Vigyan Samagam will reach Bengaluru to function from 29th July, 2019 to 28th September, 2019 at Visvesvaraya Industrial and Technological Museum. It will be in Kolkata from 4th November, 2019 to 31st December, 2019 at Science City . In its final leg, it will reach New Delhi at The National Science Centre from 21st January, 2020 and will close on 20th March, 2020. Thereafter it will remain as a permanent exhibition in New Delhi and will be taken care of by NCSM.
Vigyan Samagam exhibition will traverse you through the world from micro to macro, unveiling the efforts of the international community in understanding the Universe. It will also showcase that DAE not only works on nuclear technologies, but also work on fundamental science and research, in a big way. Vigyan Samagam exhibition will take you through the workings of the Universe. From discovery of the Higgs particle to that of gravitational waves from merger of neutron stars and black holes, these projects throw light on crucial questions related to the origin of the Universe and its evolution through its various stages. The Exhibition will highlight India’s contribution to the world’s science and technology innovations, researches in the areas of space science, nuclear technology.
Format of the Exhibition
The Exhibition will have themed galleries of posters, working models and exhibits, informative audio-visual content and electronic displays and interactive kiosks will be set up for each of the Mega Science Projects. The inaugural event at each of the four venues will be followed by a two-day scientific event comprising of invited talks and lectures by eminent speakers from the field of science, technology and Industry. The audience would include invited members from scientific organizations, industry partners and academia. Coinciding with the scientific seminar, during the first two days at each venue, industry partners working with the participating Mega Science Projects will set up an expo at the venue to showcase their contributions. As part of project awareness activities, each participating project will be carrying out week-long activities consisting of popular talks, science demonstrations and interactive quiz programmes.
Connecting with School Children, Students: A key objective of Vigyan Samagam
In each of the four cities, various engaging activities for school children and students will be taken up. Activities such as quizzes, essay-writing / drawing contests, and popular outdoor programmes like science awareness cyclothon etc. are planned.
In order to reach out to people at large and involve them with this Exhibition, Vigyan Samagam has launched a special website https://www.vigyansamagam.in where people can get more information about it. It will soon launch a mobile application Vigyan Samagam. The events such as talk shows, lectures etc. will be streamed live through social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
Exhibition will be open on all Saturdays, Sundays and Holidays. At Mumbai, the timing will be from 10 am to 6 pm.
Dignitaries such as Shri Shivprasad Khened, Director, Nehru Science Centre and Dr. Praveer Asthana, Head of Scientific Divisions, Department of Science and Technology  were present on the occasion. Former Chairman, AEC, Dr. P. Chidambaram; Former PSA to GoI and eminent scientist Dr. Anil Kakodkar, Dr. S. Banerjee, Dr. R.K. Sinha and Dr. S Basu also graced the occasion.